Vulnerable?
by Izzy-I.R.T
Summary: How could something so small become someone so dangerous? This is random one shots that will be written overtime of when Alex was small and he first met Jack and so on. Looking for a name.
1. New babysitter

**Jack, Ian and Alex story. I read some but I thought there were way too less so I wrote this story to just add a little more to the list. I hope you like it. This story is just a story with random oneshots of when Alex was smaller, vulnerable and innocent. Imagine an Alex sleeping with his knees in his stomach, all curled up, while sucking his thumb. Adorable.**

Jack had come from America to study and get a degree so as to get a good job but she had no money to buy herself a house and have food as well. To make life easier she decided to get a job to take care of a little boy. The man's name was Ian and his son was 7 years old. She had plenty of practice with infants but never with 7 year old kids but she desperately needed the money so she accepted.

* * *

Jack hurried out of her room grabbing the keys as she ran by the hallway. As usual Jack was late. Although she always woke up fairly early while she was in University/College to at least try and make it to her classes, this was a completely different matter. Jack having only just transferred from the States to England was still seriously jet lagged. Getting ready for her first day at work (if you could call it work) was hard enough with jet lag and was made even harder when her scrambled eggs had become toast. Having always had someone cook her food, Jack had not even tried to make a meal even if it did only contain eggs and toast.

Throwing the burned eggs away she grabbed a piece of toast and shoved in her mouth fast, struggling to chew and not choke. She wanted to make a good first impression so badly she had even gone to the trouble of trying to tame her flaming red hair. She was desperate for the job as she doubted anyone would get a young American like herself to protect their child while they were away. She was a very disorganized person and that adding to her temper which definitely matched her red hair and American status didn't help her chances. Although she needed the job badly she didn't want to lie on the application so she had even written that she was disorganized on her application not that it mattered. This man, Ian, didn't even glance at her personality reports or her university degrees but concentrated mostly on her ability to drive and her defence. It looked to Jack that he cared more about her jail records (none in her case) than about what kind of person was taking care of his son. She didn't point this out as all she wanted was a simple job. She hadn't actually met the man or his son. She didn't even know the child's name. It had all been settled over a simple phone call and she could remember it well.

"_Good Evening"_

"_Oh um... hi, I'm uh…Jack and I read you wanted a babysitter on the daily newspaper and I'd like to apply for the job."_

"_What is your name and where are you from?"_

"_I'm Jack Starbright and I'm from America."_

"_Okay, I'm Ian. I'm in a rush right now and I have a business meeting so could I just have your application sent to me and then come for work at around 9am next Tuesday. My address is obviously on that newspaper article."_

"_Okay that's fine. I'll see you there."_

It was Tuesday now and remembering the phone call she realized just how rushed Ian was. The more Jack thought about the man and how he did business the more she liked it, business-like and straight to the point. She could learn a thing or two from him

Looking at the clock in her rusty apartment she found that she had about 15 minutes to get to his house. She ran out of the house and into the car in a hurry.

Keeping her eyes on the road, Jack thought of all the different ways she could start their conversation. Maybe she could get to know what the boy's name is or how the boy behaved. He sounded oddly relieved when he called back to tell her that she had gotten the job. It was as if he just wanted a babysitter and didn't care who she was. She hoped that the boy wasn't too naughty and that's why he was like that because no-one wanted to baby-sit him.

Thinking over this she began to feel more worried about how this first meeting would go and as she closed in on the house she was feeling slightly sick. How was the boy going to be about a baby sitter? Will she like the boy? Will this Ian guy give her the okay or sack her?

With these questions in her head she walked towards the front door. Before she could knock on the door, it opened. Holding the door open was a man in a all-black business suit. He gave her a questioning look.

"Um hi, I'm Jack. You know the new babysitter," Jack said worriedly.

"Oh the new babysitter! Come in. Alex is in the kitchen and it will be very helpful if you could babysit him today, unless you've got other plans," he said quickly.

"No I've got no plans," she said as she walked into the house, "Wow, you've got a beautiful house and I'm guessing this Alex is your son."

"Thank you but Alex is not my son. He's my nephew. His parents got killed in a plane crash when he was one and has been living with me ever since. I think it would be best for you to meet him now just before I go." He said.

"Alex, would you come here," he called then he turned to Jack, "I'll just leave and we can see later how you two get on because I've got a really urgent meeting."

He paused briefly flicked a smile in Jack's direction and a 'see you tonight' in the direction of the kitchen and went out of the house.

Jack's first thought was that this man was very rushed in person just like on the phone but let it pass as she thought that he was a just a very private man.

Before she could assume anything else a little boy with dirty blond hair walked into the room shyly and stood in the shadows by the door. Jack immediately knew it was Alex as he stared at her like most children would look at their new babysitter. A death glare.

"Uh… hello you must be Alex," she said awkwardly wishing that Alex's father…uncle had not left her before she even got to know this Alex.

"Yes and you're my new babysitter. I don't need a babysitter. I'm seven," he replied huffily.

"Yes but Alex you're dad only wants you to be safe. I mean if a big thief came along would you be able to defend yourself?" she asked soothingly.

"Yes, I learn karate, I'm a black belt and Ian's not my dad," was Alex simple reply.

"Oh right I forgot. Well I'm glad you need a babysitter because without this job I won't have enough money to live on. I'm already in debt." She said rambling on, knowing that the boy didn't understand her. Then waking out of her depressed thoughts she spoke again. "Well what do you want for breakfast? I think you should eat now or you dad I mean uncle will get angry at me for not feeding you."

He pulled a face at the words "feeding you" but simply led Jack to the kitchen in silence. Then he spoke.

"You can always stay here because I can convince Ian cause he's always goin' away and that would mean I get to spen' time with someone and that you won't be in debt anymore," he babbled.

"Oh that's sweet but I don't think that could happen but I tell you what, because I can't cook now and make you pancakes, I'll learn to cook. Today you have some cereal," she said taking cereal out of the cupboard.

"Ian says that pancakes are bad for you," Alex said abruptly.

"Well that's cause Ian probably can't cook and so he has to live on food like takeaway. Now I'm here I'll learn to cook 10 minute food and you can tell me exactly what you did and said in karate at your last lesson." She said ruffling his hair.

He ducked out of her grip and smiled cheekily.

"Okay I started with こんにちは、マスター。 我々が今日何をしていますか-."

"English please."

"Well you told me to say exactly what I said and Ian forbade me to talk in any other language than Japanese so I can improve my language skills," he said innocently… a little too innocently.

"You annoying little-"

At the end of the day, Jack thought that her meeting with Alex had gone pretty well. Alex was one odd little boy but not in a bad way. Sometimes he acted his own age and was absolutely adorable especially when he fell asleep sucking his thumb but sometime he acted older as he listened quietly to Jack's rambling about how Ian was a bad caretaker. All in all she was very glad that she had taken up this job but sadly the meeting the next day with Ian was something she would have loved to have not taken up.

**I'm not sure if I'm going to continue because I just wrote this for fun because I felt like it after I read "open you present, Ian." I hope you like it although it was very random. I think there will be more random oneshots of when Alex was younger. It was fun writing this.**


	2. Alex's greatest fear

**Hey I'm back. Thank you to my awesome reviewers who got me to write again but I don't know if I can keep it up because I only got 3 reviews. This one is really random. What is Alex's fear?**

It had been a couple of months since Jack had started the babysitting job and moved into the Rider house. She also had a couple of things she found out about the two Riders.

Ian did not know how to cook at all.

Alex sleeping with his knees in his stomach, all curled up, while sucking his thumb was absolutely adorable.

Ian left on a lot of business meetings leaving an upset Alex behind.

Ian treated Alex more like an adult at times than a 7 year old child.

And that Alex was deathly afraid of (drum roll please) dentist appointments.

It was bright, happy Sunday morning in London. No sound at all except for the quiet birds chirping in harmony in the background until…

"AAAAAAAAAahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Alex, it's only to clean your teeth. Don't worry about it. It won't hurt at all."

This was the sound of one very scared Alex and one panicking Jack trying to persuade Alex to come out of hiding.

"But, they'll use the drill and it's really sharp. What if he missed and it goes into my gum? I can get gum disease!"

"You get lots of chocolate, he's a professional and you can't get gum disease like that but you will if you don't go to the dentist. "

"I don't like chocolate. I don't want it. I don't want to go to dentist."

Jack stared in astonishment at the little, blonde boy on the ground. She had never seen Alex throw a tantrum before; actually she had never actually seen him complain. He was always a good, silent boy that did all his work and was always happy. Now a different boy lay before her eyes. Blonde hair, wide brown eyes, pyjamas but pouting. Pouting. This was a whole different boy.

She had even used the chocolate trick on Alex which had worked on practically every child she had babysat for, but she knew that the Riders were full of surprises. Only a week ago Alex had accidentally dropped the cereal box on the ground and Ian had grounded him. A normal uncle or even a father would have told him off but definitely would not have grounded him for a month. She had expected Alex to throw a tantrum right then and there but Alex didn't say anything. He picked up the cereal box, cleaned up the mess and walked up the stairs. He didn't even storm up the stairs.

After scolding Ian for grounding him just for dropping a cereal box, Jack went upstairs to check up on him. She didn't find him crying on the bed or brooding about how unfair his uncle is but found him at his table doing his homework. When he came for dinner, Alex didn't so much as hold a grudge against Ian. He got along with him just as he normally would.

One thing was for sure. The Rider family was one hell of a different one.

He didn't do anything for that time, nothing at all, but after Jack had told him that they were going to the dentist to check Alex's teeth, he had been hiding and yelling all day.

Although she was annoyed that Alex was making a huge fuss and not cooperating with her, she was very happy that Ian was not home. If Ian had grounded him for dropping a cereal box, she'd hate to see what would happen to him if he'd seen this. She may be annoyed but not annoyed enough to call Ian so she decided to reason with him again.

"Come on Alex. It won't be a big deal."

"It won't be for you but it will be for me. It's my life on the line."

"Alex, you're being dramatic. Don't worry nothing will happen. It's just cleaning your teeth to make it pearly white. Don't you like shiny things?"

"Yes but I can't see my teeth so there is no shiny thing to play with. I don't want to go," he whined.

"Alex you're getting in the car now or I'll call Ian to come and pick you up." Jack knew this was an empty threat but she knew that Alex wouldn't know. Or well she thought he wouldn't.

"Only call Ian at emergencies when there is threat," he recited uncertainly.

Jack wasn't really going to call but she thought typing in Ian's number in her mobile, showing it to Alex then putting it to her ear might work so she tried it.

"Hello. Could I speak to Ian plea-" she began but was cut off by a loud wail from Alex.

"Alright alright, I'll go. Just don't call Ian. Please," he asked and with those puppy dog eyes how could Jack say no.

Like a good boy he got dressed, ate breakfast and ran into the car. Jack smiled after him and did the same herself.

As soon as she was in the car Alex spoke.

"Can I play on your mobile phone?"

"Of course you can. Here," Jack replied relieved that he was not angry.

Jack drove out of the drive way and through the next street when an angry exclamation came from the passenger seat.

"You didn't really call Ian did you? It says that the last call was yesterday to Jake. Who is Jake? Is he your boyfriend?"

"How did you find out?"

"Find out what?"

"That I didn't actually call Ian."

"When I said I'll go I noticed that you didn't cancel the call. You just put it on the sofa."

"Oh." When did he become a spy with a magnifying glass? She knew she shouldn't have bought that spy set for his present.

"So is Jake your boyfriend?" he asked tauntingly.

"Yes but I dumped him today. He thought it was weird for me to have to take care of you."

This time it was Alex's turn to say "oh." Then there was silence.

"I don't want you to be disadvantaged by me," he said quietly.

"No I'm not "disadvantaged" by you and I'm not disadvantaged by the job either. I like taking care of you," Jack said soothingly.

"Really?"

"Yes and even more yes if you don't scream at the dentist." Now that was a bad idea. She had reminded him about the appointment.

The whining began again as he realized that they had reached their destination.

The dentist.

**What happens when Alex goes missing? Will Jack find him or will she have to call Ian?**


	3. Missing

Jack was usually always careful where she left her things and always made sure she had everything with her when she left for anywhere. But sometimes she could forget to check all of her things. Especially when it was not a thing but a certain angry but scared blonde 7-year old boy.

After unlocking her car and walking into the dentist with Alex's hand in hers she had no time to think about all the ways that Alex could escape the clutches of the so called "evil" dentist. The whining, once they had gotten into the block, had been horrible for her- almost unbearable. She had no choice but to completely block of her hearing senses.

As usual there was a long wait to get into the dentist's room as he already had his hands full with a crying boy about the same age as Alex. She watched the boy struggle, kick and punch at the dentist as he tried to strap him into the overlarge seat. Alex watched with wide eyes as the man buckled the boy up with many belts that reminded both Jack and Alex of prison chains. Jack winced and thought how that would look to Alex who was already scared to see the dentist. Trying her best to avoid the same situation with Alex she tried and failed to distract him by calming him down.

"Alex, do you want to go watch the shows on TV like all the other kids. Look I think the James bond movie is on. Don't you really like that movie?" Jack asked desperate to get his eyes to move from the current target.

Without looking away Alex replied quietly, "I've already watched that movie and it's really bad. None of the scenes look realistic and it's all made up. Nothing like that happens in England. Also you can't do a back flip with that roundabout kick; you can see the obvious use of wires."

Jack stared at Alex, completely shocked at his answer. She knew that some of the things in the movie were unrealistic but she doubted that Alex would realize. Then she reminded herself that she was talking about the Riders, not an ordinary family. After living with the Riders for sometime, the out of ordinary ceases to surprise you.

Shaking out of her thoughts she heard her name being called out.

"Jack!"

Said person started before realizing Alex was yelling at her both out of worry and exasperation.

"Huh? What is it?"

"That receptionist just called my name and then she said yours. I think she wants you to go to her," replied Alex as if stating the obvious.

Jack walked up to the receptionist apologizing as she got closer. She felt Alex's presence behind her as he followed her.

"Your son's appointment will be delayed by around half and hour. The dentist is being delayed slightly by another young boy. I just need to know that you can wait that time but if you can not then I should warn you that the time slot will be covered in 5 minutes. We have a busy schedule."

"Oh, Alex Rider is not my-," she began but never finished as she looked behind to find nothing but empty space. That was her mistake. She had been so shocked that anyone had thought that she was old enough to be his mother that she had forgotten to keep a close eye on Alex.

"Mrs Rider? Is something wrong?" asked the receptionist confusedly.

"He's not my son! I've just lost him. Oh my god! His uncle is going to kill me and I just got the job a while ago. What am I going to do?!"

"Mrs Ri-"

"Jack."

"Uh… Miss Jack, I am sure we can alert the block and make sure we can find you son… uh… Alex. Can you give me his appearance because I doubt you can search the block in time. It's a large one."

*

Alex was currently running past various doors searching for the exit. He knew it was somewhere here. He just didn't quite know exactly where. As he past more and more doors his resolve to get out of the dentist block was lowering. He just didn't want to get his teeth cleaned. He just didn't see the point. Ian had made sure that he cleaned his teeth after breakfast and after dinner. He also flossed and gargled both times. His teeth were in perfect shape. Why did he have to get it cleaned and checked? It wasn't as if they were yellow and cavity-filled.

He turned a corner and found himself facing a door and no other lanes branching off it. It was called a dead end and even he started to realize that running away was stupid. He berated himself for being so childish. He hoped that Jack would not call Ian. Ian would be soooo angry!

He shivered as he remembered the last time he had gotten into so much trouble with Ian. It was the time he was taught the rule that he shouldn't call Ian unless it was an emergency. At that time he had a fat teenage babysitter. She hated him and just left him alone to fend for himself. Alex was feeling lonely as his babysitter had fallen off the couch unconscious after drinking a whole bottle of something called Beware. He had climbed onto the kitchen stool and picked up the phone and dialed Ian's number. Ian was absolutely furious when he realized that Alex was not kidnapped or dying. He had grounded Alex for 3 months and forbade him from the computer and television after also giving him a 1 hour lecture of why Alex shouldn't call him. Alex was terrified at his uncle's fury but from then onwards never called him even that time when a man dressed all in black had stood outside the window staring through it. He had simply ignored him and when he told Ian after he had come back from his mission three days later he had been grounded again.

He didn't think his uncle was unfair like most people thought of him. He just thought that Ian was cautious and strict.

But now Alex was scared… no terrified. What would Ian do to him for running away from such a simple dentist appointment? He decided that the best thing to do was to go back to Jack before she realized he was gone.

All he needed to do now was find his way back. If he could ever get out of this maze.


	4. AN Read Please Important!

Sorry guys! I am so sorry but I don' think I will be completing this story anytime soon. I might still add the last chapter but I don't know. If you guys really want me to put up a really bad chapter version of the chapter, I might to do it. But I don't think it would be good. I'm putting this on hiatus. Anyone who wants to adopt can definitely adopt. Aaah, my sister is going to kill me.

Sorry. I might put the last chapter for you if you insist but remember it won't be as good.


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